I think the SSD requirement is a bad thing since it will force many people into an expensive computer upgrade, and some people may not be able to afford it. Technically I fail to see why it should not be possible for Larian to make the game work for HDD but I guess it's no use complaining about that now. I have a 2TB SSD so personally I have no issues, but many will have.
Here is some advice for those of you whos computers don't meet requirements: Do not invest in an external SSD drive unless you are sure you have a USB port with a high version number. Larian will have to come out and tell people which version USB port will be minimum for running the game smoothly, but if they don't you may want to wait and then ask on the forum what works for other players. If you can afford it you should probably invest in an internal SSD drive since it will be needed for future gaming, and it will also increase performance of your PC in general. In case your hardware does not support a SSD drive you will need to upgrade your other hardware or buy a new computer. I would recommend not to be cheap about SSD drive space because you might need it in the future, for other games or whatever.
